Editor, Ceres Courier,

It is not a correct statement when liberals state that illegal aliens contribute far more in taxes than costs of any government services they have received.

In fact, illegal immigrants and their children cost the state of California $30.29 billion per year. That works out to $7,352 per illegal alien, or 17.7 percent of California's entire budget. Nationally the annual cost of illegal immigration exceeds $135 billion based on two recent studies from the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the National Economics Editorial. California bears the largest burden due to its high percentage illegal population.

Best estimates are there are over 3 million adult illegal immigrants and an additional 1.1 million children for a total of 4.12 million illegal immigrants and their children living in California. Education costs account for $15.63 billion, healthcare costs $4.02 billion, crime costs $4.4 billion, remittance payments $3.86 billion, and GSA costs $1.6 billion. Yes, illegal immigrants do pay some taxes, mostly sales taxes and payroll taxes estimated to total $3.5 billion. This isn't close to what they draw down from the state coffers for services. The facts speak for themselves.

Robert Teglia

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